The All Progressives Grand Alliance in Ogun State has said that it will not go into an alliance with any other political party to win elections, including the governorship of the state in the 2019 polls.
APGA, which expressed confidence that it would take over the governorship of the state from the ruling All Progressives Congress, said it did not need an alliance with other political parties to realise its dream of ruling Ogun.
But the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party in the state described APGA’s outbursts on the 2019 governorship election in the state as “mere wishful thinking.”
APGA stressed that it would take advantage of the current friction within the ruling APC and the opposition PDP in the state to woo notable politicians in the state to its side to make itself formidable and unbeatable in the 2019 governorship poll in the state.
The state Chairman of APGA in Ogun, Chief Augustine Coker, argued that after APC and PDP, APGA was the third largest political party in the country.
Coker, who spoke in Abeokuta, therefore, assured that before the next election in the state, political bigwigs from the other parties would have joined APGA to aid its victory at the poll.
He said, “We will work harder. You know we presented a governorship candidate, Prof. Bamgbose, the other time and you know how we shook the state. You know the way we did it. There is nothing stopping us from presenting another candidate this time around; as God smiles on us, we’ll win. Every political party hopes to win, which we are hoping to do, God be on our side.
“We are not going to any party. APGA is APGA. Let me tell you, there was a time the national body wanted to merge with another party. The only thing that the executive did then was not to surrender the certificate, when INEC said they should, but which they refused because we are not ready to merge with another party.”
But in his reaction, the Publicity Secretary of the PDP in the state, Mr. Bolaji Adeniji, said APGA was not in existence in
Ogun.
Adeniji noted that the party was far from the governorship seat in the 2019 governorship poll in the
state.
He said, “It wishful thinking. APGA is a party that is very far from claiming the governorship seat in Ogun State in 2019.
“In the history of Ogun State, we know the political parties that have been participating in elections in Ogun State and we know ourselves in Ogun State. In fact, it is from you that I just heard that there is APGA in Ogun State. There are two major political parties in the state – the PDP and the APC, and we have other parties like the LP and the Accord party.
“Every party will like to claim that it is the best for the people. It is within their legitimate right that they say they are the party. Whether they are the party to beat depends on the electorate, and at the right time, every party will show its
strength.”
